The siren call of the braid in the middle row
by In2lalaland
Summary: Wufei lives a pretty ordinary life. He goes to his lectures, feeds his ugly cat, watches reruns of Mythbusters and tries to avoid people as much as he can. But things are about to change when he sets his eyes on a beautiful man with a braid. 2x5x2, AU
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The first thing that caught Chang Wufei's attention as he made his way through the crowded lecture hall was a long thick braid. A long -long- thick braid. It had to be at least a meter long.

Now, Wufei wasn't one to have any kind of fetishes, and certainly not a hair fetish, but the sight of that hair was tempting. It made the skin on his fingertips itch and he rubbed them together to sooth it. The braid had been thrown over the back of its owner's seat and was now dangling in front of the next row of seats.

He almost abandoned his usual seat in the back for a chance to see that hair up close. But the thought of having to sit in the middle of that crowd made an uneasy feeling spread through his stomach. No, he could not handle sitting there. Not in the middle rows. The seats behind the braid was still mostly empty, but it wouldn't be for long. The middle rows were always taken first.

Instead he made his way up the stairs to the back of the hall. No one ever sat in the last two rows. Especially now during the winter. The ventilation that pumped out cold air over your head made sure of that. It was absolutely freezing and no one in their right mind would ever voluntarily sit back there. Except Wufei, which was the whole point since he really wanted to be left alone.

He prepared himself for the cold draught by buttoning up his jacket, pulling his knitted hat down farther and flipping his collar up to protect his neck. Wufei shivered lightly and decided that it really was time to knit himself a long scarf. The chilled air swept over him as he sat down and made himself comfortable. He put his bag on the seat next to him and systematically took out his books, notepad and several pencils.

He could never understand why you would take notes with only one color. And if you only had one color, why would you choose black? Wufei always had at least seven pencils. Black (yes, he did have one), dark blue, two different shades of green, brown, wine-red, and pink. And while the red one was definitely his favorite, he did have a special connection with the pink one.

Now, no one had ever called Wufei feminine (at least they had never had the guts to do so to his face) and he certainly did not feel any urges to connect with his feminine side (if he even wanted to admit that he had one). But it did give him a small trill to have something that was so obviously girly. You could even say that the pink pen were Wufei's version of a rebellion against the preconceived sexual roles in society. Or maybe he just liked the color.

But what ever it was that had made him buy that pen, you could now see the result at the top of that blank page in front of him. '_October 25, Dr Lowis, Economical History of Eastern Europe.' _The neat letters were written in bright pink and amused Wufei to the point that he decided that -this- was the pen that he was going to use today. He briefly considered procuring enough pens to give him a whole rainbow, but dismissed the thought. He might be gay, but he wasn't _that_ gay. Wufei was all for being proud of who you were, but he did not see the need to express it with rainbow colored artifacts. Not that a few colorful pencils would be such a big deal (or that anyone would ever see them), but that was not the point. The point was that Wufei would know and that was all that mattered.

Leaning forward with his elbows resting on ether side of his pad he took his time to survey the room. There was still time left before the lecturer would arrive and people were wandering in, looking like dog walkers that knew they had to take the dog out into the pouring rain or suffer the consequence. This was another advantage of sitting in the back. You could watch everyone else, but no one could watch you without you noticing.

And speaking about watching. His eyes searched for the braid and found it deep in the crowd. It really was magnificent and Wufei's fingers once again itched to touch it.

And then it happens. It could have been described as something like 'as if the world stopped in it's orbit' or maybe it was more of a religious experience, just without the burning bushes, the lotus flowers popping out of the ground, and you know, the religion. However you would like to describe it, the only thing that was going through Wufei's mind at that moment went somewhere in the line of 'holy shit,' 'wow' and other eloquent phrases. The pink pen took a nose dive from his limp finger and left a big plump on his pad under '_Low-'. _The sudden dryness in his mouth probably had a slight connection with the fact that his jaw had dropped the second 'IT' had happened.

Now what did happen that would inspire that kind of reaction? Let me tell you, what happened was something so amazing, so incredible that it could only be described like this... 'the owner of the braid _turned around_.'

It was a miracle. Because not only was the braid attached to a man, it was in fact attached to a absolutely beautiful man. Wufei swallowed thickly as he watched the man talk to the people in the row behind him with a big grin on his striking face. For a moment Wufei could not determine if he should be beating himself up for not following the braid's allurement or not. If he had, he would have been sitting right there, So close to that Adonis looking man that he would have been able to see every detail of his beauty. But on the other hand, he would be much closer to him. Being close enough to see better also meant that he –Wufei Chang- would be close enough to be seen. The thought filled him with unease. No, it was better to watch from a distance. Nothing good could ever come from getting near that vision.

Wufei's musings were interrupted by the arrival of Dr Lowis. After a quick search on the floor he found his pen. But the bright pink color did not hold the same attraction as before. With a sigh, he put the lid back on and took out the black one instead.

* * *

A/N

Now, the first thing I would like to say is 'thank you' to SakuyasLittleBird who beta read this story. Without her this story would probably never have been posted.

Please tell me what you thought about the story. A quick, "update soon", a short complain about the characters being OCC or something like that would make me very happy. The next chapter will be posted in a few days


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The whole point of being a cat person, according to Wufei, was that you did not have to go on walks. (And Wufei didn't really like taking walks and he was definitely _not_ a dog person.) That was why he did feel a bit betrayed as he looked down on the big St Bernard that where at the moment doing his businesses on the snow covered sidewalk. The dogs droopy eyes seamed to mock him with the knowledge that, as the leash holder, this was his problem. Droopy eyes that were far to close for comfort, in Wufie's opinion. Especially considering that Wufei was not among the tallest people to ever walk the earth, the dog had its head in chest height (at least while it was sitting).

Next to the unnecessarily large dog, a ugly lump of hair and wrinkled skin was lounging on the ground. The ugly lump was in fact his cat (with was why he had started to question if he really was a cat person). Why the cat like to follow him and the dog around during these walks was beyond his comprehension. Why he owned the lump at all was also a mystery. The cat had just showed up one day when he was on his way to class. It had followed him, not only to the university, but into the building. It would probably have followed him all the way into the lecture halls if he hadn't thrown it out (several times). Unfortunately for him, the cat had been waiting for him outside at the end of the day and then followed him home. Wufei had tried to get rid of it (several times) but it just kept coming back until Wufei had admitted his defeat and stopped throwing it out.

Luckily, the dog was in fact -not- his. It belonged to his neighbor Mrs Stevens. Why someone as old as Mrs Stevens, who could barely walk around in her own apartment, would get a St Bernard was another mystery that Wufei did not dwell on. The conclusion of it would not save him from these walks, and it would not save him from having to pick up the dog's droppings.

With a practiced move of the plastic bag in his hand he took care of the unpleasant business and moved along the usual route. The dog strolled lazily next to him and the ugly cat followed closely in his foot steeps. And it really was a ugly cat. It's gray fur was thin and did not in any way hide the rough scars that covered its thin body. The skin was hanging in unappealing wrinkles and it's tail was strangely short, like someone had cut it off years ago. The cat's head was only equipped with one ear and it had a squint in the left eye. It really was the ugliest cat Wufei had ever seen.

Wufei sighed in relief when he saw the apartment complex looming in the distance. He really was _not_ a dog person and he couldn't wait to return the slobbering beast to its owner.

He had been informed when he had taken on the task to take the dog walking that "Teddy had a slight gland problem." Teddy the monster dog did therefor drool like the Niagara falls.

"A slight gland problem my ass," Wufei muttered as he gave the leash a determined tug to stop the dog from once again, drooling on his shoes. He seriously considered disinfecting them when he got home. He quickened his squishing steps the rest of the way and herded both dog and cat through the door, up the stairs and then finally, to apartment door number 35.

The door opened and a old woman wearing a pink silk dressing gown with matching slippers smiled happily at him.

"Oh, come on in Wofi. Did you have a nice walk?"

Chang Wufei, who had long ago accepted that he would never hear his name pronounced right from the old woman, just smiled and told her that yes, it had been a very nice walk, and yes Teddy had gone poo-poo like a good boy. After declining several offers of tea and cookies he promised to be back soon to look through the newly developed photos from Teddy's latest dog show. A few more minutes of pleasantries and Wufei could finally make his way over to his own apartment. After a few seconds of 'where the hell did I put my keys' he managed to get the door opened. The ugly cat ran inside like it was expecting the human to throw it out if he got the chance. But the man did not even spare the cat a glance. He had more important business to attend to.

Wufei's eyes were fixed on his destination as soon as the front door closed behind him. With determined steeps he marched his way through the apartment (which was a accomplishment considering that his living room/kitchen/hallway was in fact, not that big). Upon reaching his goal he threw his gloves, hat, and jacket on the floor. With a grunt of exertion he kicked his worn sneaker off and collapsed on the couch with a satisfied groan. He really loved his couch. He had pulled it out of a dumpster two years ago and he had never regretted it. It was on the other hand absolutely tasteless. It was covered in big neon green flowers and something so bizarre as smiling bees. He had been forced to wash the seat cushions five times to get ride of the disgusting smell. It had been like someone died in it and had started to decompose before anyone noticed. But, Wufei reasoned, it was such a great place to die that he really would not mind doing so himself.

He was soon joined on the couch by the ugly cat who took its usual place on his chest. He grimaced as the cold and wet body stretched out on top on him, but he did not protest. Very carefully wiggling his cellphone out of his jeans pocket (The ugly cat had some scary looking claws that Wufei did not in any way want in his face) he set the alarm to wake him up in forty-five minutes so he would get up in time before he had to go to work. After putting his phone on the floor (he could not reach the coffee-table without disturbing the cat) he then reached up and started to pull the afghan of the back of the couch. Wufei put his knees up before carefully spreading the big blanket over himself from head to toe. The ugly cat blinked in surprise when the world suddenly became surrounded by fluffy maroon colored material. There was some light that made it's way through, but other then that it was dark and secluded.

"Now, that wasn't so bad, was it? It's like our own hidden cave." He whispered to the ugly cat. It's only response was a big yawn and a slight rearrangement of it's back paws. Wufei reached out and caressed it's back. He smiled happily when it started to purr contently. "God night ugly cat."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

So, what did you think about this chapter?

Next chapter will be posted in a few days.

Thanks to my beloved beta SakuyasLittleBird.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Wufei once again poked his sore forearm. The ugly cat's claws were not only scary looking, they were also sharp as hell. He poked his arm again.

One could not know for sure which one of them had been more startled when the alarm went of, Wufei or the ugly cat. But one could suspect that it was, in fact, the cat who took the incident the hardest. For not only did it wake up to the bawling tunes of the MacGyver intro, its world also tumbled over when its resting place decided to fall of the couch. What happened next was really not a surprise to anyone.

No, a ugly cat tangled up in a fluffy afghan and a human could only react in one way, which was to shred whatever was closest to pieces. Unfortunately for Wufei, the closest thing to the ugly cat's fury was his forearms.

Wufei poked his arm again and stated that, 'yes, it did still hurt like crap.'

"Chang, would you please stop poking that, it's giving me the creeps."

"Sorry Ellen." He muttered to the tall blond who was chopping up pork with a shiny butcher knife next to him. Why cat scratches would make a girl that was covered in blood most of the time uncomfortable was something that Wufei could not understand. But he really was not stupid enough to voice the thought.

Because, let me tell you this, Ellen is one a strange creature that, like the ugly cat, you did not in any way want to aggravate. The consequence could be devastating. This was something Wufei knew from experience. He had been working with her in the butcher shop for almost two years now and during that time she had locked him in the freeze room for forgetting to refill the coffee pot, put pig's blood in his coke for making her deal with a irritating customer (but on the other hand, the poor old lady who just wanted to make a nice dinner for her daughter probably suffered more at the hands of the pissed off shopkeeper than Ellen had by helping her) and smacked him in the face with sheep liver for eating the last chocolate covered donut. Other then that, she was a really nice girl.

Discretely giving his arm one last poke he then turned back to the meat-mincer in front of him and got to work. He let his thoughts get lost as his hands was occupied with the monotonous process of making ground meat.

After doing a mental scan of his schedule, Wufei realized that he had another economical history lecture the following day. This was a realization that broth him both joy and a tremendous amount of anxiety. The reason for joy was that he would get to see the beautiful Adonis again while the anxiety was based on the location of the lecture. The lecture was held in one of the newer lecture halls. And unlike the old ones, they did not have a ventilation unit that made sure that Wufei would be left alone. The trick was to arrive when most people had already sat down and find a place with as much empty seats around it as possible. Wufei played with the thought of -maybe- finding a seat a bit closer to Adonis this time. Not too close, but close enough to see better, maybe even tell what color his eyes were.

(This is the moment where our protagonist loses all contact with the world and instead visits this little place called la-la land.)

'But god he was beautiful. Like a angel fallen from the sky. Big eyes, nicely shaped cheekbones, skin that looked so, _so_ smooth, not to mention those lips. To be able to kiss those lips. Place those cheeks in the palms of my hands and pull him close. To feel his breath against my face. Starting out with soft butterfly kisses, that would very soon heat up. Lips opening and hungry tongues twisting around each other as-'

"Earth to Wufei, come in Wufei."

"Huh? What?" He said as he crashed back into the real world. He did a quick checked with the back of his hand to make sure that he hadn't been drooling.

"You've been staring at the meat grinder for god knows how long. What's on your mind? Grandmother giving you problems again?"

"No, she's fine. She and some friends went to this health spa a couple of days ago and I haven't heard from her since." And wasn't Wufei grateful for _that_. Now, don't get the wrong impression. The man loved his grandmother and would do anything for her. But she nagged. By god how she nagged. He could understand that she was concerned for him since he was her only living relative. But he was twenty one years old and was fully capable of remembering to change his own underwear.

"So then whats wrong." Ellen said as she carelessly cut the head of a dead chicken

"Nothings wrong." He said as he refused to meet her eyes.

"Bull-freakin'-shit. Come on. Tell your aunty Ellen all about it." She said with a predatory smile.

"Nothings wrong, really. It's just this guy..."

Ellen's smile grow wider. "Oh, it's one of those. So does this guy have a name?"

Wufei shrugged his shoulders. "Probably, I just don't know what it it."

"Ok, now I'm curious. So who is this guy and where did you meet him?" She said and pushed the chickens bloody head of the board and into the trash can standing by her feet.

Wufei avoided the question for a few seconds by refilling the meat grinder. But since he really didn't want minced meat shoved down his shirt by a irritated blond, he decided to answer."I think meet him is a bit strong. He's in my 'History of Economics' class. "

"Which class was that? Is that the one with the pointless law tests or the one with the worthless books?" With a flick of her wrist a new chicken landed with a wet thud on her chopping board.

"Nether. This course just started. I saw him for the first time yesterday. Gods, he has to be -the- most beautiful man I have ever seen."

Ellens eyes lit up. "Prettier then Brad Pitt in Thelma and Louise"

"Yes."

"Justin Timberlake?"

Wufei snorted. "Hell yes"

"Better the your dream man Adam Savage." She said in a teasing voice that told him that 'Yes, she know all about his Mythbuster obsession.'

"Yes."

"Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean?"

"...Yes"

"Aha! I felt a slight hesitation there." She said and pointed the blood splattered knife at him in victory.

He could feel a slight blush spreading. "I have a thing for the dreads, so sue me."

"So, no dreads on the mystery guy." Ellen said as she played with her butcher knife.

"No." Wufei let a pleased smile spread across his lips. "But he has something better."

Ellen raised an eyebrow in question.

"He has really, and I mean -really- long hair. It looks like it should be halfway down to his knees."

"Really?"

"Yeah... well I can't know for sure since he was wearing it in a braid."

"Wow, I think that beats the dreads." Ellen said with a leer.

"Definitely."Wufei said with a dreamy look in his eyes.

They worked in silence for a few minutes before Ellen turned to her coworker again.

"So are you going to talk to him?"

Wufei gave his friend a look of pure disbelief.

"_Hello_, my name is Chang _Wufei._ We must not have meet before since you obviously don't know that answer to that. Of course I'm not going to talk to him!"

Ellen sighed in disbelief over his melodramatic act. "Why not? What's the worst that could happen?" Wufei did not dignify that with an answer.

"So you're just going to sit in the back and watch him?"

"Yes."

"You're pathetic. You know that right?"

Wufei sighed. "Yes, but I can live with that."

Ellen just rolled her eyes and turned back to her knifes.

Yes, Wufei was fully aware that he was pathetic. And as he said, that was something that he could live with. It wasn't like he had a choice. It wasn't like you could buy yourself a new personality or social understanding in the supermarket. No, Wufei was and had always been a wallflower. It would be nice to be able to just walk over to the man of his dreams and be able to start talking to him. To maybe ask him on date. Hold his hand, kiss those lips and run his fingers through that beautiful hair. (...and we lost him again.) Touch that wonderful a creature that was just too sensual to be touched by mortal men. But how he longed to do so. He would place his hand softly on Adonis arm and smiled as the beautiful man turned toward him. His fingers would wrapped themselves around the man's wrist and tug the other body close to his. Adonis would come easy and willingly. His hair floating freely in the wind. The beautiful man would smile and lean in to capture his lip in a kiss so powerful he would feel his knees start to buckle. Adonis clothes would fall of his body like leaf in the fall as he-"

"Chang! Get your head straight. We got work to do, the delivery just came in. We got two dead cows to chop up."

"Coming." Wufei sighed and put on a new par of plastic gloves. This was going to be a long day.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Wufei was most displeased when he arrived and found that not only was the lecture in one of the newer halls, it was also in one of the smaller ones. This meant less empty seats for him.

As he stood in the door way he decided to very discretely look for the beautiful Adonis while he was searching for a place to sit. It looked like Wufei was one of the last people to arrive because most seats were already taken. But a quick check gave him a pleasant surprise. It was absolutely perfect! Five seats on one of the back rows were empty on the left side. But what made it perfect was that Adonis was sitting only two rows below, three seats in which gave him a perfect angle if he took the seat farthest out.

But in the middle of his blissful happiness Wufei suddenly realized something. He was going to have to walk past Adonis to get to his seat.

'God. Please don't let me stumble, or drop something, or sneeze, or-' Luckily he was able to cut himself of before he could work himself up to a full blown panic attack. Realizing that he probably looked like a total idiot where he was standing in the doorway and that he really should move out of the way encase someone wanted to come in. Wufei carefully made sure that he had a firm grip on is bag and that nothing was going to fall out of it, before he started to make his way up the stairs. His eyes was fixed on the steps to make sure that he wouldn't miss one and fall. But as he came closer and closer to the top he could not stop himself from lifting his eyes of the floor. The siren call of Adonis was to strong and his own curiosity to know what color those eyes were made his seek him out. He instantly regretted his decision. Why did he regret it, you wonder. Well let's just say that getting eye contact was not something that Wufei had considered would happen.

'No! He saw me staring. Oh god this is so embarrassing... idiot, idiot, idiot, you should have kept your eyes on the ground!'. Quickening his steeps he made his way up to his seat. He sank down and managed to stop himself from thumping his head against the back of the seat in front of him. His heart was beating like mad and cold sweat was running down his back. As the panic began to fade, the embarrassment took a hold of him and he announced to himself that this day couldn't possibly get any worse. This was in fact one of the worst days of his life.

A stack of papers were being passed around and Wufei could hardly manage to pull himself out of his misery long enough to pass it on. All he wanted to do was to go home and hide under his blanket. There he would listen to some loud depressing music with his ugly cat on his chest and forget that this day ever happened.

But while he was mentally beating himself up, his eyes decided to betray him. That's why he suddenly found himself ones again looking into the big blue eyes.

'AH! Shit! He looked up at me. And saw me staring -again-!!! He saw me! That's it. I'm not lifting my eyes of this paper. I'll -never- look again. I can't believe he saw me. He probably thinks I'm the biggest creep ever. Why, do I have to be so fucking stupid' Wufei couldn't believe how much he managed to embarrassed himself in under five minutes. The lesson hadn't even begun yet.

The lecture was passing him by in a big blur while he was mentally beating himself up for being the biggest idiot to ever ever walk the earth. But unfortunately for our hero, the lecturer announced that they were taking a fifteen minutes break. This was information that more or less made him panic. He desperately wanted to drown his sorrows in some coffee, but that would mean that he would have to walk outside and buy his coffee at the same place that the rest of his class did. Which made the chances of being seen by Adonis far to big.

"Excuse me" A voice said, interrupting his thoughts.

Wufei looked up and saw several people from his raw that was trying to get past him.

"Sorry." Wufei quickly gathered his things and slip out of his seat to let them through.

Taking a look around the hall he realized that Adonis had left. With a sigh of relief he sank down into his seat again. But the relief was short-lived. He hadn't felt any urge for coffee before the announcement, but now it even surpass the humiliation he felt over his Adonis watching. He decided to take a chance.

Slipping out of the lecture hall he made his was over to the cafe. Carefully taking a look around at all the people there to make sure that Adonis wouldn't see him, he dared to make his way over to the cash register. Paying for his ambrosia he started to make his way out of the crowd to find a quiet place to enjoy it. Only that he was so busy with his Adonis searching that he almost walked into someones back. A back that had a long thick braid hanging over it. Wufei swallowed thickly in dread. But Adonis hadn't noticed him. He was listening to a pretty blond girl who was wildly gesticulating over a subject that Wufei couldn't hear a word of over the roaring sound in his ears. Against his will he found his eyes caressing that magnificent braid. From the massive base at his neck following it down along his spine over his... Wufei's breath got caught in his throat... fantastic ass and farther down. He had been right in his earlier estimation. The hair had to be at least down to his knees...

Snapping himself out of his trance like stat he realized what he was doing and who's ass he was standing much too close to. He quickly turned on his heel and managed to hide behind some big plastic plants before discreetly joining a big group of people that was on their way out. As he reached the corridor leading to the lecture hall, Wufei breathed out in relief. The whole encounter with Adonis could not have lasted more then ten seconds. But every last detail was branded into Wufei's mind like he had spent years examining that beautiful hair, that strong looking back... that ass. Wufei sighed in contentment. This day did have its upsides.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Wufei's oath to never look up at Adonis again did not last long. But he did try to be more discreet. The dark haired man was pretending to read as he lean his head against his hand. Then he very carefully glancing up between his pinkie and ring finger. Adonis was leaning forward with his elbows on the desk board and seamed to be playing with his pencil.

'He is a pencil biter' Wufei thought in wonder.

He for one, had never understood some peoples need to chew on their writing material. He found it quite disturbing, not to mention disgusting. He had been witness to everything from people who not only bit their pencils but sucked on them, to that guy in his 'economical theory' class who used to bit his pencils so hard that they would break, leaving ink all over his face and books. Wufei shivered at the unpleasant memory. A mouth full of ink should be enough for anyone to learn his lesson. Well, it should. Only that Wufei knew that the incident had been repeated at least two more times. He supposed that third time was the charm. Or maybe it was because the guy had the misfortune of swallowing, not only the ink, but several pieces of sharp plastic the last time he did it. Having your stomach cut open really was a great reason to stop biting your pencils.

But Wufei suddenly found a whole new appreciation for the fascinating art of pencil biting. Adonis tapped his black pencil against his lips. Tap-tap-tap. Before opening his mouth slightly and letting the pencil rest on the inside of his bottom lip. He then brought his upper row of teeth down over the pencil leaving it trapped there. He would sometimes lift the pen up so that it would be caught between both rows of teeth, and sometimes he would use his bottom lip to make the black pencil bob up and down. Up and down. Wufei followed the movement with great interest.

But if he had to choose, he would probably tell you that it was in fact the other option that was his personal favorite. The times that he would place it between his teeth was a sight to behold. The pen would wander from one side of his mouth to the other with a smoothness that clearly indicated that he was using his tongue to move it around. Every now end then the movement would stoop and he would angle the the pen so that he could bite it. Repeatedly. Wufei couldn't quite see from this distance, but it did look like Adonis was licking the part of the pencil that he had in his mouth. The sight was most distracting.

Wufei realized with a startle that he hadn't heard a word of what the lecturer had been talking about. There were several complicated looking statistical curves drawn on the board that he didn't have the slightest clue on what they were for. He swore quite colorful to himself and quickly copied the shapes down on his pad. It was going to be hell to try to figure out the meaning of them. But even in his building panic, he couldn't help himself from peeking up at Adonis again. Only to look into big blue eyes that was looking straight at him.

'Oh shit!' Wufei thought in panic and sank further down in his seat with his face hidden behind his hands. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid, what the hell am I doing. He saw me staring. For the third -fucking- time! Oh-my-god. He probably thinks that I've been watching him the whole time... which I kind of have... He is probably annoyed because the creepy looking guy in the back row keeps staring at him. He might think that I have a crush on him... which I do... but- oh god. He probably thinks I'm a complete freak. The creepy looking gay freak in the back rows... Yeah, that's me. Wufei hung his head and fought the urge to cry. He had no reason to cry. Adonis wasn't his. Would never be his. Adonis would never talk to him. He would never voluntarily be close to him. Wouldn't have anything to do with the strange Asian boy in the back. That never spoke unless spoken to. That did all the group assignments on his own... That kept looking at him. 'Why do I have to be this way?' He thought miserably and doodled a stick figure with slanting eyes and long pink hair that fell of a cliff.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Aww, poor Wufei, I feel bad for him... wait... Its my fault that he's feeling like this! Ooops.

I would be very, very happy if you took the time to wright my a quick little line and told me what you thought about the chapter. Come on, make my day.

Once again, give a huge applaud to SakuyasLittleBird who is the beta/guardian angel to this story.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It had been most uncomfortable for Wufei to return to the scene of the crime for the next lecture.

And the next.

And the one after that.

But he kept his head down and hadn't so much as glanced at Adonis since that fateful day. If he kept it up, Adonis might forget about the whole thing...Yes, he was aware of how naive that was, but he also realized that he didn't have that much choice in the matter.

When the lecture was over he took his time to gather his things to really make sure that Adonis had left the room. It wouldn't do to run into him on the way out or just outside the door. So to be safe he packed and re-packed everything in his bag with great care. After wasting as much time as he could before the lecturer started to look at him strangely, he decided to leave. As he was making his way out the door a (compared to Wufei) tall brunet stepped in his way. He instantly recognized him as one of the 'middle row' people.

He smiled down at Wufei, showing off his perfect white teeth. "Hey, I was just wondering if you would like to join our study group?"

'What? Why? No.' Was Wufei first gut instinct. He did not want to interact with any of his classmates if he didn't have to. The effort it took to try to fit in was far too much, not to mention the anxiety he felt just by thinking about it. But before he could open his mouth to decline, he realized that there was a problem with that response. He could really need some help with the statistics they had been working on... especially since he had missed the entire introduction lecture when he instead of listening had been watching Adonis bite his pencil. A study group would therefore be most useful. But on the other hand, they probably only asked him to join them because they thought that he could explain it to them, and then when they found out that he couldn't help them...

"I'm not sure if I'll be of much help with this..." He said and shifted his weight awkwardly.

"Oh, that's cool." The brunet cut in. "None of us really understands all of it. But usually everyone picks up something that we can work with."

Wufei admitted that the offer was tempting, it just went against every instinct he had. But he really did need some help, so before he could talk himself out of it, he agreed.

"Cool, we usually meet up at my place since I'm the only one with enough room for everyone to sit down. Do you know where Arklet Street is?"

Wufei nodded even though he didn't. He could find out on his own. He would probably never be able to remember or understand the guy's description anyway.

"Great, I'm Tom by the way." The brunet said and held his hand out.

A startled Wufei managed to shake the offered hand. "Wufei."

"Hey, cool name. The group is going meet tomorrow at about seven. Can you make it?"

"Yeah."

Tom showed of his perfect teeth once again. "Cool, Well tomorrow then. Arklet Street 57A at seven."

Wufei nodded in response.

"Cool. See ya. Wofei"

Wufei watched him go before whispering to himself. "Yeah, -_cool_- ...what the hell did I just get myself into."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A few hours later, our hero had other problems.

"Please don't crash, please don't crash, please don't crash." The mantra was the same every time that Wufei clicked the save button on his computer. But that wasn't all that strange considering that it was a really ancient one. It didn't have much more then a simple writing program.

Every essay was a gamble. Was this the time when his computer gave up? Wufei was the first to admit that he did not know all that much about computers and if something happened to it, there really wasn't much he could do more then to re-boot it or pull the cable. He really should get a newer one. The newspapers were full of people trying to sell their perfectly functional computers for almost nothing. He had even saved up the money for it. But he just kept pushing it forward thinking that he would do it later, but every time he found himself sitting there with his mantra.

'Please don't crash, Please don't crash, Please don't crash, Please don't cra- YES!' Wufei pumped his fist in triumph when the computer managed to do not only that, but also save the essay that he had been working on for the last four hours. The ugly cat gave him a strange look from where it was lying on top of the refrigerator. 'Stupid human' it seamed to say, but Wufei, struck with a sudden glee, stuck his tongue out at it. He didn't even care that he was acting silly, because his computer had saved his essay! He decided to celebrate with hot chocolate, a couple of vanilla cookies from Mrs. Stevens and reruns of Mythbusters. Life was good.

Wufei sighed happily as he turned on the TV. There was no doubt about it, Adam was hot! Nothing beats a half mad scientist running around laughing like a loon while blowing shit up… Adonis being the only exception. Wufei frowned. He really did not want to think about him right now, it would only make him feel depressed. Instead he concentrated on his favorite show.

'Ooooh it's the climbing on glass walls episode.' He thought as he sank down on the couch with a plate of cookies in one hand and a steaming mug in the other. The ugly cat had jumped off the refrigerator and joined him. It sat down and looked at him with a clear message in it's eyes.

Wufei shock his head. "Sorry, drinking hot beverage, can't lie down. You are going to have to find another place to sleep." He took a sip and stared back at the ugly cat as it got to it's feet.

Wufei groaned when he realized just where the cat was intending to sleep. It was his second favorite place to sleep if it couldn't have his chest. With determination the cat climbed up his chest and up to his shoulder. Wufei simply sighed and leaned forward so that the cat could get in behind his head. It then proceeded to lie down with it's head and front legs on one side of his neck and the hind legs on the other. And that is how Wufei suddenly found himself with a ugly-cat-boa. The short tail whisked back and forth as the cat happily started to purr.

"Glad to be of service." Wufei muttered as he avoided the soft gray tail to take a bite of one of his vanilla cookies. The ugly cat lazily licked his neck in response, making Wufei shiver at the roughness.

By the first commercial break the cat was sound asleep around his neck. It didn't even stir as he got up and refilled his mug. Sitting back down again he marveled at the wonder that was Adam Savage. Now there was someone who even though they weren't the typical beauty still had that something that made Wufei want to push him down on top of that big blue sketch paper and have his wicked way with him. Wufei loved the wall climbing episode. He must have seen it at least ten times, but who cares when you get to look at Adam in a harness. He smiled in appreciation as the cameraman filmed Adams backside as he was climbing up the glass wall. Yes, Wufei really liked the wall climbing episode.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The next day on the other hand was not as relaxing. Wufei was in fact trying hard not to panic. He had talked himself in and out of going at least twenty times before he managed leave the apartment. A quick Internet search had given him a detailed description to Arklet street and with a printed copy in his hand he set out to find his new study group.

That itself proved to be the easiest part of the outing. It was in fact the doorbell that proved to be the biggest challenge. It was a small black button and Wufei was pretty sure that it was mocking him. He felt like he was standing on the edge of a cliff that he was trying to jump off without knowing what would meet him at the bottom. He very soon came to the conclusion that it he didn't press that little black button he was not only going to be standing there for a while, but he was also going to be late. If there was anything Wufei hated, it was being late. With a deep breath and a creeping sense of doom, he pressed the doorbell. There was a clear sound of a shrieking bell and he could hear heavy steeps coming closer and closer. With dread he watched as the door handle was pressed down and the door opened to reveal a smiling Tom.

"Hey Wofei, glad you could make it." He said and stepped aside to let him in.

Wufei managed to smile in return and mumbled a polite reply. Removing his heavy winter coat he found a free hanger among the other jackets hanging in the hallway. He did a quick count and came to the assumption that according to the amount of winter wear, there should be about six or seven people here. Six or seven people who probably knew each other from before. Six or seven people that he didn't know, that he would have to at least try to talk to and even get to know. A cold feeling of dread spread in his stomach.

"Do you want something to drink? We got coffee and Bree is about to make some hot chocolate." Wufei who had almost forgotten all about the tall brunet in the middle his unease, blinked up the smiling face. He could feel himself starting to blush. For once he was grateful for his dark Asian skin that made his embarrassment less obvious. "Yeah sure, some coffee would be nice."

"Coming right up. Come on, let me introduce you to the others." With that he clamped a big hand down on Wufei's shoulder and steered him further into the apartment.

Wufei's brain shut down the second he walked into the living room. He barely managed to stay on his feet. The reason was that Adonis was sitting on the couch. Adonis! In the living room! In the living room that Wufei was in. As in, they were in the same living room. A living room with both of them in it. Adonis! With him in the living room. Adonis!

It was nothing short of a miracle that he was able to take his cue to introduce himself and listen with half an ear as the rest of the group introduced themselves. But really, we all know that he was only interested in hearing one of those names. Then the beautiful man spoke and Wufei's heart jumped.

One thing was for certain, that as soon as he heard that name he knew that two was his new favorite number. He also knew that the marginals in his pad was going to be covered in twos and pink hearts for a very long time. Or maybe twenty-five was going to be his new favorite number considering that 'Wu' meant five. Wufei had never loved his name so much in his life.

As he took his seat in one of the two couches that were standing in a 'L' shape around a low living room table, he took a look around the room. It was pretty nice and clean with a lot of well-kept plants, something that he had not expected to see in what obviously was a bachelors home. The only exception was the table that was covered in coffee mugs, half eaten sandwiches, books and papers. Tom handed him a mug of steaming coffee before sitting down in a big blue armchair.

Wufei glanced at Adonis- no Duo, who was sitting at the end of the other couch that unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it) was as far away from Wufei as it was possible with these seating arrangements. But it was still pretty close. 'God, I'm pathetic.' He thought with a sigh before turning his attention to Tom who was filling him in on what they were working on.

It's quite difficult to try to interact with people when you have been unsocial for a longer period of time. And considering that Wufei had been unsocial pretty much his whole life, then you could understand that trying to start up a conversation with the most beautiful person you had ever seen was not all that easy.

But being terrified of talking to one of the people around the table made talking to the rest of them a lot less frightening. He was quite happy to find that there was a lot of nice people in the study group. There was Sarah with the ringing laughter, Tom who had a -_cool_- story about everything, John with his cute dimples and his perfectly organized papers, the red haired Bree who had her five year old daughter Kim with her, the bottle blond girl who's name he could never remember and of course there was Duo. Duo-Duo-Duo-Duo-Duo. Wufei quickly realized that he would have to guard his eyes carefully so they wouldn't linger for too long. Linger on those strong shoulders, the slim waist, the long jeans clad legs, the hands, the arms the- Wufei swallowed thickly, the hair. Realizing that he was once again staring at Duo's bent head, or more precisely the braid that had fallen over his shoulder and was lying like a big snake in his lap next to the heavy statistics book. The book that he should be reading instead of Duo watching.

Sarah who was sitting next to him was slowly searching through her own book. "What did the 'X3' stand for again?" She asked.

Tom checked his notes. " X3 is... the number of years with the company "

"Right, so it's ŷ6,061-0,008X1i 0,070X2i... and then it's -0,603X3i." She said and started to calculate the numbers.

"No." Wufei cut in, surprising himself by speaking up. "It's annual pay. X2 is the number of years with the company. So it's ŷ6,061-0,008X1i 0,603X2i-0,070X3i ei" He said confidently while he was shaking on the inside. 'I think that's right, please let it be right. God's what if I'm wrong. Then everyone is going to look at me and-' Tom cut of his line of thought.

"Oh, yeah and the ei is an error variable. That makes sense."

Wufei breathed out a sigh and relaxed. Maybe this wouldn't be all that bad after all.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"Mooooooom. I want to go home." A low voice begged. Five year old Kim was leaning heavily over her mothers legs, looking like she was dying of boredom. Wufei was quite impressed with her. They had been here for almost two hours and this was the first time that the little girl had complained. Wufei had been ready to act like a bored five year old after just ten minutes.

"We can't go home yet, sweetheart. Mommy has to finish her homework first." The little girl sighed quietly and started to wander around the room. Making her way over to Wufei she leaned over the edge of the couch and looked down on his pad.

"Pretty." She whispered quietly when she set her eyes on Wufei's pink notes.

"I have a pink crayon." She informed him and pushed a piece of curly red hair away from her face.

Wufei lifted a eyebrow. "Really."

She grined. "Yeah, I have lots. Want to see?"

"Okay." He said with a smile and watched as she run off to collect a small colorful backpack.

"Look." She held out a well used pink crayon for Wufei to inspect. He took the crayon and turned it over several times.

"This is a very nice crayon." He said seriously and carefully handed the crayon back. Kim smiled happily

"I got more. I like this one the best." She said and held out a small green crayon. Wufei once again inspected the crayon and nodded his head.

"Good choice. It's a really nice color."

"Yeah, but it got broken because Aron broke it."

"Really?"

The little girl nodded her head seriously. "And he didn't even say sorry." It was clear that this was Aron's biggest sin.

Wufei frowned. "Well that was rude of him."

She once again nodded her head. Wufei leaned down and picked his pencil case out of his bag.

"You can have this one if you want." He said and held out one of his green pencils. The one he was holding was almost exactly the same shade as Kim's broken crayon.

"Really?" She said in awe as she took the pen.

Wufei nodded. "You have to have your favorite color."

"Which one is your favorite?" She asked and walked around the edge of the couch to lean on his legs.

"This one." He said and held out a wine-red pencil for inspection. Kim accepted the pencil carefully and looked at it with great concentration.

"It's nice." She said and handed it back. "Can I sit with you?" She asked and Wufei shuffled a bit closer to Sarah to make room for the small redhead. She easily climbed up the couch and made herself comfortable against his side. "Why don't you use the one you like the best." She asked as she looked at Wufei's pink handwriting that covered the page.

He smiled down at Kim. "Well, I wasn't in the mood for a red pen. It felt like a pink day today."

"Oh. I think I have a blue day. I drew a blue dog even though there isn't any blue dogs." She said and flipped her pad open to show him a blue blot with legs.

"Really, well you can never know. There might be a blue dog out there." Wufei said and tapped his pen against his chin.

The girl giggled behind her hands. "Dogs can't be blue."

"Maybe someone colored it. Like some people color their hair."

The girl looked thoughtful. "You think?"

"Maybe. I saw a pink dog once." Wufei said, waving his pink pen in front of her.

"Really?" She asked with big eyes.

Wufei nodded. "It was one of those small poodles."

Kim wrinkled her nose. "I don't like dogs. Dogs are smelly."

Wufei smiled happily. "I don't like dogs ether, but I take one walking almost every day."

"Why?" She asked as she leaned on his arm.

"A friend of my grandmother owns it. Her legs aren't all that good so it's hard for her to take the dog on long walks."

"My grandmother can't walk at all. She sits in a wheelchair. I tried to help push, but she's really heavy." She frowned unhappily.

Wufei smiled and stroke her hair. "Well it was nice of you to try. I'm sure she appreciated it."

"Mmhmm, she gave me candy. Do you like candy?"

"Kim, I don't think you should bother Wofei." Bree cut in as she looked disapprovingly at her daughter.

"She's not." He said at the same time as Kim exclaimed a offend 'I'm not.'

They looked at each other and giggled. Well, Wufei giggled as good as a man in his early twenty's could anyway. The Asian suddenly became very aware of the fact that the rest of the group was looking at them in amusement. Wufei couldn't believe that he had almost forgotten where they were. But that was probably a good thing or he would probably been looking at Duo the whole time. A quick flick of an eye told him that 'yes, Adonis is looking at you right now.' He could feel himself blushing. "Sorry, we'll be more quiet."

After a couple well meaning jokes about Kim finding a new best friend, everyone settled down. A few new questions came up that the group managed to solve together and Wufei breathed out a mental sigh of relief. Maybe he could pass this class after all. Sarah asked to borrow one of his books and Tom took a walk around the group to refill some coffee mugs. After that, silence settled over the room once again.

"I think Wofe is a strange name." Kim whispered after a while. It was clear that this was something that she had given a lot of thought.

Wufei sank down further into the couch to get more in height with the little girl. "Well, It kind of is. Even my grandmother thinks so because she always calls me Fei."

"Fey is better. It's like you're a fairy."

Wufei snickered lightly at her words. 'You don't know how right you are.'

"Yeah, only that I don't have any wings."

Bree smiled brightly. "I have wings. My mom made me them for Katharine's dress-up party. They got glitter on them. You can borrow them if you want."

Wufei coughed to hide his laughter. "That's very generous of you but I think that I should be fine without them."

"OK." With that she pulled up her own pad and started to draw. They stayed like that for the rest of the session, trading pencils and crayons back and forth until the five year old fell asleep against his arm. It didn't take long after that before the rest of the group decided that it was time to go home.

Bree smiled a bit apologetically when she lifted her sleeping daughter off of him. "I'm sorry if she was bothering you."

"She wasn't." He said as he collected Kim's pad, crayons and her new green pencil down in to the small backpack.

"Thank you. It was nice of you to talk to her. She usually becomes quite bored while we are here." She said and hugged the sleeping child closer.

Wufei shrugged. "It was nice. I always hated it when adults didn't talk to me or talked down to me when I was a kid. I wasn't about to do the same to her."

Kim suddenly blinked and looked around with blurry eyes from her resting place on Bree's shoulder.

"We're leaving now sweetheart, say good bye to Wofei now." Her mother said gently.

"Bye fairy." She mumbled sleepily with a small wave making the rest of the group laugh.

Wufei just smiled happily and waved back "Bye Kim."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

And that was all for now, please tell me what you thought puppy eyes pleeeease?

Thanks to Sakuyas Little Bird and Aniratac who beta read this chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

I'm baaaack! happy dance

Sorry about the long wait, real life and all that.

I'm going to start by thanking all the wonderful people that reviewed the last chapter.

Tearles - Well, wait no more bacause this chapter will give it to you.

Persephone Choiseul - I'm sooo happy you liked it :)

Shogi - Me too, I wouldn't hear a word my teacher said. I'd have my eyes glued on Duo :)

Sylenctone - Yeah, I think Kim helped Wufei as much as he helped her from being bored. Too bad for him that there is no Kim in this chapter evil laughter

Leikaru - blushes Thank you

Eternal Spark -Reading your reviews always makes me smile. Thank you and I hope you cat is nicer than the ugly cat.

Hittocerebattosai - I'm very, very happy that to hear that you liked it. I also hope that you'll like this one.

Turtle Kid - I'll let you in on a little secret. Things are going to move a lot faster pretty soon.

Snowdragonct- You better belive that he did :)

Kaeru Shisho - I am very happy to hear that you liked it and I know that Duo did too.

MeLaiya - Thank you-thank you-thank you and to answer your question. They will interact right about... now.

Chapter 6

Wufei concluded that he really should be more attentive to his surrounding when he was walking. Too many times this week had he found himself walking into doors, street signs and even worse, smashing his face straight into Ellen's enormous rack. That traumatic experience was more then enough to convince him that he should watch his steps. Suffocation by D- cups was really not the way he wanted to go. So, what was the reason for his air headed behavior? Do you even have to ask?

Duo had been on his mind ever since the study group meeting.

He had just said goodbye to Kim when Duo had walked past him out the door. With a small smile he said 'Bye Wufei' and left. The Asian had walked like he was in a trance all the way back home. It almost seemed like his poor mind had gotten stuck on 'he smiled at me,' 'He knows my name' and 'He can pronounce my name!' only to start all over again. If the ugly cat had known how to, it would probably have rolled its eyes at him. But it had really just been the beginning.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Wufei could feel his chest tightening as his eyes meet Duo's from where he was walking up the lecture hall's stairs. The beautiful man was not only smiling at him again, he was waving at him as well. Wufei managed a shy smile and a small wave of his own before looking down on the floor to let his hair hid his face. Our Hero might appear calm on the outside but the inside was a completely different story.

'Duo waved to me! He waved to -me-. He did. I know he did. There wasn't anyone standing behind me so it had to be me!' Wufei thought as he, with light steps, walked up the stairs to the back row. They were once again back in the older lecture hall and the cold air welcomed Wufei back with a freezing embrace. He reminded himself to work on his knitting so that the scarf he desperately needed would be done soon because it really was damned cold up there.

He took a quick look down to Duo in the middle row. It looked a lot warmer down there. Most people were even wearing t-shirts. Wufei on the other hand had two sweaters and his coat buttoned up to the top. Not to mention that he still had his knitted hat and his cloves on. The price you had to pay to be alone and get some space.

But he wouldn't be alone later today. They were having another study session at seven and Wufei could hardly wait. The first meeting had gone a lot better then he had thought it would. Everyone had been friendly and accepted him into the group, especially Kim. He hadn't been lying when he said that it had been nice to talk to her. Children were a lot less complicated then adults and Wufei desperately wanted to be a kid again. This stupid love thing wouldn't be such a big problem anymore... Oh, who was he kidding? A five year old Wufei would have fallen head over heals in love with Duo even faster then the adult Wufei.

The Chinese man sighed unhappily and glanced down at his crush who was talking and smiling at that blond girl... whose name he still couldn't remember. Yeah, being a kid again wouldn't be all that bad. 'Having mom alive again. Sitting on the floor and playing with my Lego. Not having to go to these lectures...' he sighed again. 'I miss my mom.' Wufei thought and leaned his chin in his hand. It was over ten years since she died but he still missed her like it had happened yesterday. One drunken idiot in a car and his mother was gone forever. The knowledge burned.

Even though Duo had waved at him, it wasn't a very pink day today. Instead he decided that it was a green day. He smiled slightly. Maybe he should draw a green dog.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Walking over to Tom's apartment wasn't even close to being as bad as the last time. Wufei had in fact been watching the clock and more or less counted the seconds until he was going to leave. He was looking forward to seeing Duo again. Just thinking about the other man made everything seem so much... brighter. He was in a very good mood while he was walking through the snow slush covering the road, and if he had known how, he would have been whistling.

He met Bree in the stairway. "Hi Wofei, no Kim today."

"Aww, then who am I going to play with?" He whined feeling childish but happy.

Bree just laughed. "You can always play with Duo or Tom, god knows neither of those two are ever going to grow up."

Wufei couldn't help but think about exactly how he wanted to play with Duo. 'No, bad Wufei, down boy.' Wufei thought with a mental slap as they made their way up to the third floor.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"I actually have something for you." Bree said as she closed the apartment door behind her.

"Oh?" He said as he watched her search through her overfilled messenger bag.

"Damn, it was right here." She mumbled in irritation and pushed a piece of curly red hair out of her eyes. "Aha!" She shone up and handed Wufei a folded paper. Opening it up he couldn't help but laugh. It was a portrait, he realized. In the middle was a man was drawn with a black spider like thing on his head (which Wufei assumed was his hair) big dark eyes and gigantic pink butterfly wings on his back. F-A-I-R-Y was written in big slightly crooked letters all over the left while the right side was covered with just three letters, K-I-M.

Wufei grinned. "Tell her that I love it and that it's going to have a place of honor on my refrigerator."

"Oh, I will." Bree said with a crooked smile. "You are the only thing that she has been talking about these last few days. The kindergarten teachers think she has gotten herself an imaginary friend named Fairy who saves dogs even though he doesn't like dogs." Wufei smiled happily.

"Maybe you could baby sit her some day. If you want?" The redhead asked with a hopeful voice.

"Yeah." Wufei said without even the slightest hesitation.

"That would be great. She almost cried her eyes out when her father came to pick her up and she realized that she didn't get to come to the session."

He smiled. "Maybe I should draw her a picture. That might make her happy again."

"That might work." Bree laughed.

"Hello, where did you come from?" He suddenly heard Duo's voice asking someone from inside the apartment.

'I wonder who he's talking to.' He thought as he hung his coat up. The Asian very quickly got the answer to his question as he walked into the room a few seconds later. Because the first thing he saw was none other then his ugly cat who had two paws up against Duo's thigh.

'This is not happening. This is -not- happening. How the hell did it get in here?' Silently swearing he contemplated how to deal with the situation.

"It's probably a stray." The blond girl who's-name-he-could-never-remember said.

"It's mine." He heard himself say. Blushing slightly he walked towards his traitorous cat.

"Sorry, it most have followed me here."

"And you didn't notice?" The blond girl asked in disbelief.

Wufei could feel himself shrinking. God, why did the world hate him so much? "Ehm, yeah. It's pretty good at not being seen. Sorry, I'll just take it back."

"No. It's ok." Duo said and lifted the cat up in his arms. "He can stay. Can't he?" He turned pleading eyes towards the defenseless cat owner. "Yeah, sure. If yo-, it no one minds." Wufei mumbled as he melting at the sight of the beautiful smile that spread across Adonis face. And it was directed towards -him-. Only him. Wufei loved the world.

"I'm sure they don't. Or they are going to have to take it up with me. Wont they?" Duo said to the ugly cat who was purring contently in his lap.

Realizing that he was staring, Wufei moved to sit down. But he was feeling a bit daring, almost like the cat had opened up a door for him to connect with Duo. So against his better judgment he decided to take a seat in the armchair standing right by the edge of the sofa where Adonis was sitting. His heart was beating a mile a minute and his hands shook slightly as he started to lift his things out of the bag.

"Hey, Wufei. What's her name?" Duo said startling him so bad he almost dropped his pens all over the floor. For a second he had no idea what his love was talking about. But as the braided man nodded his head down towards his lap Wufei finally caught on. 'She?' He thought in astonishment.

This is the second that Wufei realizes that he has forgotten to name his cat.

"Emh... It- She kind of... don't have one."

"She doesn't have a name?" Duo asked in disbelief

Wufei couldn't help but blush. "Well I kind of just call it- her, ugly cat, since you know, it's is a ugly cat."

For a second Duo just stared at him with his mouth slightly open. Then he started to laugh. And laugh. Tears was running down his face as his whole body shook with laughter.

-:-:-

The cat, who by now realized that the New-human was not paying any attention to it and therefore was useless, decided to play on a safe card. With a heated glare at the still laughing human, the cat jumped down from it's lap and walked over to it's own human. This was a human that it knew from experience was properly trained. Jumping up into the armchair it surveyed its surroundings. The New-human was still making that disturbing noise and seamed to be in danger of falling over. The cat was most satisfied with its decision to abandon the formers lap and labeled the whole human as unpredictable territory. The Old-human's attention was at the moment focused on the New-humans almost spastic movements. It supposed that the human had a certain amusement value and let the Old-human continue its observations. Perhaps it would learn something. Maybe it could use the New-human as a example on how humans most certainly should not behave. The cat took a second to clean its paws while it contemplated the best course of action. Since its favorite resting area was in the wrong angle at the moment, it decided to make best of the situation and started to climb up the Old-human. Like the well trained human it was it stayed perfectly still and dutifully moved his head so that the cat could make itself comfortable.

-:-:-

Wufei stared in fascination as the beautiful man laughed for all he was worth. And it really was a sight to behold. He could feel the ugly cat climbing on him but he couldn't find the will to care as he looked at the beautiful man. But after a while Duo started to calm down, something he noticed with regret. That meant that his excuse to watch him was over. He sighed, waved away the ugly cat's tail from his face and turned back to his books before Duo would notice that he was staring.

"Oh, That has to be the cutest thing I have ever seen." Sarah suddenly said and pointed at Wufei and his ugly-cat-boa.

Wufei could once again feel himself start to blush. "It- I mean, she is a bit clingy. If she can't lie on my chest she does this." He pointed at the hanging cat who was purring for all it was worth. He felt absolutely ridiculous, but he knew from experience that he could not remove that cat without suffering the consequences.

A sharp click was heard from his right and when he turned towards it he looked straight at Adonis. Adonis who was holding up his cell phone towards him. His camera cell phone. Wufei swallowed thickly. He really was not photogenic and to have Adonis take a photo of him with an ugly cat wrapped around his neck for entertainment value was not his idea of a good time.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself." He said with a wicked smile. Sarah motioned for him to show her the picture and the phone was very soon passed around the group with laughs and 'aaawww's all around.

Wufei cursed the cat. 'Should have thrown it out while I had the chance... Well, at least it wasn't licking me.' He sighed and pushed the tail away from his nose.

"Hey." Wufei turned towards Duo who was leaning towards him. "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you." He said in a soft vice as he looked over to the other couch where several people were bent together over Duo's phone.

"It's ok." He responded in a equally soft voice. Any embarrassment was worth it if he could just get this kind of attention from the beautiful man.

"She was right you know." Duo said with a crooked smile.

"What?"

"You two have to be the cutest things ever."

Wufei loved his ugly cat.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Pretty short chapter, I know but the next on will be posted tomorrow. Now, please, please, please with suger on top. Push the little button and tell me what you thought about the chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks to everyone that reviewed!

Hittocerebattosai - I actually don't know what kind of cat ugly cat is but I have a picture of it. It's pretty... ugly.  
Turtle Kid - No this speed up might not have been too bad but it's coming. evil laughter You'll know what I'm talking about when you read it. I have a reason for it so hopefully you wont mind.  
Shogi - I got this picture in my head where you and Duo are falling over each other laughing over the lack of name while the ugly cat is glares at you. LOL  
Shadowdragon58 - hugs you thank you! Hopefully you cat is a bit nicer then the ugly cat grin  
Snowdragonct - Thank you thank you thank you, your review made me all happy :) ugly cat strokes itself against your leg  
Kaeru Shisho - I'm so happy you liked it. Hate can turn to love so fast when you're crush is smiling at you :)  
Reikoyazumi - Thank you! I'm more or less jumping of joy that you liked it. My god! I just realized that I have forgotten to review 'Hard to say' blushes Bad girl, bad. Especially since it's like one of my favorite fictions right now. I'm going to have to do that right now :)

Chapter 7

From the moment that the ugly cat had cleared the path for communication between Adonis and him, they had been getting closer and closer to each other. They would sit next to each other on the study sessions and they would walk home together since Duo lived just a few streets away from him. Duo had even joined him in the back rows once. But only once. After sitting three hours in the cold he refused to -ever- sit there again. Instead he made Wufei sit with the rest of the group further down.

There were still times when he would feel uncomfortable and like he didn't fit in. Times that he didn't know what to say or do. Times that made him long for the days where he could go for a week without talking to anyone except Mrs. Stevens and his cat. But being close to Duo made it all worth it. To say that Wufei had never been happier was an understatement. It felt good open up to Duo and to talk to him about everything and nothing. He just had this way of making you feel like you were the center of the universe as soon as those eyes turn towards you. Or maybe Wufei was the only one that felt that way? How ever it was, it made him want to follow him around everywhere. Made him feel like a fifteen year old who wanted to carry his crush's books from one class to the other. Like he would do anything to be with him.

He played with the thought of asking him out. He was actually pretty sure that Duo was gay. That blond girl (who's name he still didn't know)had said something about having to leave early because her boyfriend had done something (Wufei hadn't been paying attention to their conversation because Duo's hairband had slipped of the end of his braid, forcing him to re-do a part of it) and Sarah had said something in the line of 'Oh, you don't have to explain, everyone who has ever had a boyfriend knows what you're talking about' and then Duo had given her this little half laugh. Like he was agreeing with her... or maybe not. Wufei was fully aware of the fact that he might be reading a bit too much into it.

But even if Duo was gay he wouldn't date him anyway so the whole thing was more or less pointless. Wufei reasoned that he really should be grateful that he could be close to him at all. Duo was a really nice guy, who would probably feel guilty if he found out that Wufei was in love with him. He really didn't want Duo's pity. No, he would rather love him from a distance without him knowing about it. That was the way that unrequited love should be.

And it really was love, not some shallow crush based on appearance like it had been in the beginning. Wufei had been given the chance to get to know 'Adonis' only to find that Duo was so much more then any of his fantasies could ever get even close to. There was just so much life in him that the poor Asian could hardly take his eyes of him. Wufei had to make really sure that he didn't let his eyes linger on Duo for too long. Which was easier said than done.

He was doing the best he could at the moment not to let his eyes get stuck on Duo's ass. The ass, that was sticking out in the air as the owner of said ass was trying to reach the last packet of some kind of exclusive ice cream. They were on a mission to buy snacks for the rest of the group and by the look of the shopping list, they were going to be there for awhile. Wufei breathed out a sigh of relief as Duo straightened up again.

"So what's next on the list Wufei?" He was about to answer when a very familiar voice spoke from behind him "Mr. Gilmore?"

'Oh god, not now, please not now.' But his prayers went unheard when he turned around and came face to face with a smiling old woman wearing a bright orange and yellow winter overall with a turquoise knitted hat on her head.

"Oh, good evening Mrs. Wilson." Wufei said with a fake smile. 'Gilmore?' he saw Duo mouth in question next to him.

"How are you, Wofei?"

"I'm good Mrs. Wilson, how are you?"

"Oh, never better. Not that anyone believes me when I tell them that. Johanna has been nagging me all week that I should slow down just because I took another dive down the stairs. I'll slow down when I'm dead. I keep telling her, I'm eighty-five, not a hundred and five. But she doesn't listen. But that's the way grandchildren work. Speaking of which, I haven't seen you around at your grandmother's in a while now. I hope you haven't forgotten about her."

Wufei managed a smile. "Of course not, my grandmother is very hard to forget."

"She told me that she was going to a spa. That must be heavenly. Letting someone pamper you must feel fantastic. But I really wonder about some of those methods. I have a hard time understanding how sitting in mud is good for you... Is this your girlfriend Wofei?"

His eyes followed her wrinkled finger that was pointing... straight at Duo.

Wufei could feel cold sweat running down his back. "No, this is a friend of mine from the university. Mrs. Wilson, this is Duo Maxwell, Duo this is Mrs. Wilson, a friend of my grandmother."

"It's very nice to meet you Mrs. Wilson." Duo said with a bright smile.

"Oh, it's very nice to meet you miss. Now why haven't you snatched this one up yet?" She asked and patted a mortified Wufei on the butt.

Duo's coughed in an attempt to hide his laughter. "It must be a terrible oversight on my part, Mrs. Wilson."

"Oh it has to be. This one is just the sweetest thing imaginable. Always polite and ready to give a helping hand. Let me tell you, that back when I was going to turn eighty this little honeybun came over every day after school to help me bake cookies for my guests. Everyone just loved his wonderful cupcakes. I remember when he was younger and he used to run around in this big red cardigan that I had and pretended that he was Little Red Riding Hood. He had a basket with lemonade and cookies that he would treat everyone from when they came over. It was just adorable. I had to knit myself a new cardigan because he would look so sad when I took it back." She said and petted Wufei's cheek with a smile. "How is you own knitting going Mr. Gilmore?"

Wufei sighed and accepted that he was not walking away from here with any dignity left. "It's going fine. The gloves are done and I'm working on a scarf right now."

Mrs. Wilson nodded. "Oh, that's good. You let me know if you need any help."

"I will."

"That's a good boy." She turned to Duo "Now, I hope you'll take care of this. God knows nothing will ever happen if you're waiting for him to make any moves. Good girl." She said happily when she saw Duo smile and nod his head.

"You two have a nice day now. It was nice to meet you miss Maxwell. Goodbye."

They both watched as the old women made her way towards the checkout.

Wufei turned to look at Duo who seemed to be holding his breath. Or more likely, holding his laughter inside as he waited for Mrs. Wilson to get out of hearing.

The Chinese man rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Her hearing is about as bad as her eyesight, I think it's safe for you to laugh now."

And that he did. He laughed so hard that he had to lean against the freezer while tears made their way down his cheeks. And even though Wufei was embarrassed he couldn't help but think about how much he really liked the way Duo laughed. He could barely make out some disjointed words that he managed to choke out. It sounded like 'miss' and 'girlfriend' with something that could be translated to 'marmalade' but he wasn't sure.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Later as they were leaving the store, Duo turned towards him. "Ok, I have to ask. Gilmore?! I thought your name was Chang."

Wufei sighed. "It is. My full name is Wufei Gilmore-Chang. Gilmore is from my mother's side but my mother thought it was important that I was named with my father's last name... even if I would never meet him." At Duo's questioning look he just said 'One night stand' as a explanation. "Anyway, Wufei Gilmore-Chang is a bit too long for my taste and Wufei Gilmore... seriously doesn't sound quite right."

You could tell by Duo's amused snort that he agreed with him.

"So how come you have a Chinese first name?"

This time it was Wufei's turn to snort. "As far as I know, it's not a very good Chinese name. It's more of a nonsense name. My mom picked out two words that she thought looked nice out of a Chinese dictionary. The words have different meanings depending on how you pronounce them, but wu and fei means five and fly."

Duo snickered. "You're named five?"

"Like you're one to talk." He shot back, surprising himself with his own boldness.

"That's exactly my point. I never meet another person, outside of my family, who was named after a number." Duo was quiet for a second. "So your mother... she just closed her eyes and pointed at a word?" He asked in a curious voice.

Wufei shrugged his shoulder. "My grandmother said that she kind of looked at the words like they were pretty pictures and choose the ones that she thought looked nicest. So therefore five-fly."

"Five-fly huh. Wuuuu fei. Wufei, Wu-feeeiii." Duo smiled down at him and Wufei couldn't help but smile back. He had always hated his name. Hardly anyone pronounced it right and he didn't know how many people who had asked him if he spoke English when they saw his name tag at work. But with Duo smiling and rolling it around in his mouth, he found that maybe it wasn't that bad.

The braided man shifted the shopping bag from one hand to the other. "And here I though my parents were unimaginative. No offense."

Wufei just waved his hand to show that none was taken. Duo continued. "I mean, my older brother is named Solo, my little brother is named Tres and my little sister is named Quadraginta."

Wufei stumbled and stared at him with his mouth hanging open. "Quadraginta?"

Duo laughed. "Yeah, I got of kind of easy with 'Duo' didn't I? No one ever called her that though. Not if they want to live. Most just calls her Gin or Quatra. Or in my case, Q-bean. I just got the minion title."

The shorter man smiled. "Yeah, there it's a bit of a Bond feeling over it."

"Not to mention the Austin Powers movie. God! Solo made fun of me for weeks when ever one of those movies came out."

"Number two?" Wufei couldn't help but snicker.

"Yeah, 'get me the laser sharks number two' and 'You want to wear the daddy pants?' for weeks! I thought I was going to lose my mind!"

Wufei laughed. "Well, there is a down side with everything."

Duo rolled his eyes. "You can say that again. So whats the down side of 'Wufei'?"

'What isn't the down side of it' He thought bitterly before answering. "Well, no one ever pronounce it right. I was pretty impressed that you got it right by the way."

Duo smiled proudly. "Thanks... There is just one thing that I'm wondering about. If you can't speak Chinese, and if I'm right, you don't know anyone who speaks Chinese ether." He waited for Wufei to confirm and at his nod he continued. "So how do you know what the right Chinese pronunciation sounds like?"

If it had been anyone else, Wufei would never have answered that question. But on the other hand, he would never have told anyone else the story behind his name in the first place. But for some reason it didn't matter if he was making a fool of himself in front of Duo. He didn't mind that he was sharing things that had been more or less the ban of his existents.

It didn't make any sense. Weren't you supposed to be nervous and uncomfortable around the one you had fallen head over heals in love with? But Duo just made him feel relaxed and happy. Like he could do and say anything and Duo would just laugh. Only that he would laugh with him, not at him.

It was a very liberating felling for someone who did not have that many people to confide in. Well, he had Ellen, but they didn't really interact outside of work. He had his grandmother but that was just... no. She still saw him as a ten year old. But now there was Duo. Bright and happy Duo who was so... free. Who made Wufei feel free. He wanted to spend every second of every day just trying to make him happy. He wanted to know Duo, wanted to know everything there was to know about him. And if he wasn't heads over heals in love with him before, the smile he was being given now would have been enough to do so and that was also why he told him the truth when he answered Duo's question.

"Chinese restaurant." He mumbled in embarrassment but Duo's happy laugh made it all worth it.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

And that was all for now. The next chapter should be out on Monday or Tuesday... hopefully on Monday.

Do me favour and tell me what you thought about the chapter. It would make me very happy if you did. Please?


	8. Chapter 8

Ok, I just realized that I have completely forgotten to thank Persephone Choiseul who beta read this chapter and the last two

Ok, I just realized that I have completely forgotten to thank Persephone Choiseul who beta read this chapter and the last two when SakuyasLittleBird had her hands full.

Thank to everyone that reviewed!

Sylenctone - You're right. In the end we all fall for the Maxwell charm :)

Tearles- Thank you! More cuteness is coming soon.

anf600 - Duo definitely caught that hint. (PS. We will find out more about Duo's family life later in the epilouge)

Windwraith - Yeah, just because you look Chinese doesn't meen that you are. Poor Wufei definitely needs to be cuddled.

Roses in bloom - I'm so happy that this fiction is making you happy :)

Turtle Kid - Thank you! You totally made my day :) I walked around with a shit eating smile for hours. (I doubt you'll miss the speed up, :) Mahahaha!)

Kaeru Shisho - It might be a bit too soon for love... but we are getting there.

Snowdragonet - I think you are right on both of them. Duo is both Wufei's best friend and his crush.

Hittocerebattosai - Awww, now I'm all warm and happy. Thank you:)

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Chapter 7

"Fairy!"

Wufei smiled as he looked down at the happy red head that was hugging his legs.

"Hey Kim." The little girl grinned up at him.

Bree took one last look in the mirror to make sure that her hair was still lying just right. "Hello Wofei, thanks for coming so fast. This wasn't really planned but I couldn't say no. I hope you don't mind."

Wufei just shook his head with a smile.

"Good. So, I'll be back in a few hours. I left some money by the phone for food. I'll have my cell phone with me. Call if you need anything or just want to ask something or-"

Wufei cut in. "I think we'll be fine. You just relax and have fun on your date."

Bree smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I'll try. I'm just so nervous."

Kim started to whine slightly when she thought the adults had talked long enough.

Wufei bent down and lifted the girl up on his hip. "Hey, no need to sound like that." He said and turned so that she was looking at her mother. "Doesn't your mother look nice?" Kim nodded her head. "I don't think your mom needs to worry about her date now that she looks like that, do you?"

Kim shrugged and put her arms around his neck. "I think mom could date you instead."

Wufei snorted out a half laugh. "Em, I'm a fairy, remember? Fairies don't date mothers."

He looked over at Bree who tried to hide her laughter behind her hand. "That's right sweetheart, no dating the fairies. Now have fun you two."

"We will, now off you go before your date starts to think that you have stood him up."

"Right, bye sweets." She said and kissed her daughter on the cheek. "Bye Wofei." With that she disappeared through the door leaving the two of them waving in the hallway. Wufei turned his head to the girl in his arms. "So, what do we do now?"

The little girl smiled with glittering eyes and if Wufei hadn't known better he would said that her smile was uncomfortably close to a leer.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

When Bree got back a few hours later she found her babysitter sitting crossed legged on the floor with Kim standing behind him with a hair brush and several colorful hairbands in her hands. Wufei's long dark hair was pulled into small ponytails and small lumpy braids all over his head. He was wearing a white tutu arund his waist, a couple of Kim's homemade pearl necklaces around his neck and a par of sparkling fairy wings on his back. Kim was wearing Wufei's winter coat that was pooling around her feet and a helmet made of what looked like an old cereal box on her head.

"Well I can see that you two have been having fun anyway." She said and leaned against the door frame.

Wufei looked embarrassed but didn't move from his spot in front of his 'hairdresser.' "Hey, did the date go well?"

"It went pretty well. There might be a date two sometime soon." She said with a relived sigh as she took her high heels off.

"Fairy can come again!" Kim exclaimed waving her box helmet around.

Bree smiled. "You are going to have to ask Wofei first."

"Can you? Can you, please?" She begged.

Wufei tipped his head backwards and looked up at her. "Of course I can."

"Yes!" The small redhead shouted and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

It had taken the Asian quite a while to get all the small braids out of his hair. But since he had been too lazy to take them out that day and instead had slept in them, his hair was filled with uneven waves the next day. Bree had teased him for hours that he looked like a doll but he had gotten his consolation prize when Duo had run a hand trough his wavy hair. Wufei had almost shivered in delight as long warm fingers had combed through his hair, pressing against his scalp. Lovely, he had to do something very nice for Kim the next time he saw her.

The next evening found Wufei walking side by side with his love. They had just left Tom's apartment and were on their way home. They were talking and joking around like usual. Wufei had never had a friend like Duo before. Someone he could just relax with and talk about pointless stupid things. And as long as he kept his eyes away from Duo's ass, chest, neck, eyes, hair, hands, legs, feet, crotch, arms, lips and pretty much his entire body... everything was fine. Little did he now that things were about to change.

"Hey Wu." Wufei couldn't help but smile at the name.

"Yes Number two?" Duo smiled slightly in response before looking down at the wet snow slush that they were walking through.

"I'm going to be a bit blunt now. And-, well a lot of people get a bit uncomfortable when I do that, so if I ask you something that you don't want to answer, just tell me. Okay?"

Wufei hesitated but nodded his head. He knew Duo could blur out just about anything to anyone but that was the charm with Duo. He was unpredictable and real. Hell, the guy never lied, it doesn't get more real then that. Wufei did feel a bit nervous since Duo had felt the need to warn him but he had promised himself that he would always tell Duo the truth when he asked. It wasn't more then fair.

"Are you gay?"

Wufei almost tripped on his own feet before he managed to find is footing. He gaped for a few seconds before he finally choked out a strangled. "Yes."

Duo smiled brightly. "Oh, good. Would you have sex with me?"

Wufei knew that it was physically impossible for your eyes to pop out of your head, but at this moment he was not all that convinced that they couldn't.

"...Yeah." Was all he managed to get out.

"Great! Come on then, my apartment is just down the street." Duo said as he grabbed a hold of the shocked Chinese's hand and dragged him down the street.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Wufei woke up with a groan. The sun was shining in his face in the most unpleasant way. 'Wait. Sun?' The confused Asian thought. He didn't have a window in his bedroom. He didn't have a window in his entire apartment that had sun shining through it. In a move to get away from the sun he decided to roll over on to his stomach. That resulted in a awareness of a throbbing ache in his lower regions. 'Why does my ass hurt?' was all he had time to think before the memory on last night came rushing back. '...oh. It appears that I have lost my virginity.' He thought happily. Opening his eyes he looked out over a bright bedroom. Movie posters, framed photos and some kind of abstract art hung on the light yellow walls. A junk covered desk stood in the corner next to a overfilled wardrobe. There was several pillows spread across the floor and Wufei had a very detailed memory of sweeping them off the bed as he pushed his Adonis onto the mattress.

He suddenly felt a hand caress his lower back. His naked, lower back. He shivered in delight as long fingers circled his tail bone and smoothed the hair between his cheeks downwards.

"Morning." A voice mumbled next to him. Turning his head to the other side he took in the beautiful sight of his sleep rumbled -lover-. Wufei could feel himself smiling like a loon but he didn't care.

"God morning Duo."

Duo smiled sleepily and curled up against him. "Thanks for staying." He said as pressed his face in to Wufei's shoulder blade.

'Just try to make me leave.' He thought as he dipped his nose into the long hair in front of him with a happy sigh. He couldn't stop his fingers from following as they burying themselves in the wonderful waves. 'Hello, My name is Wufei and I'm a hair-addict.' He thought contently.

"I can't believe I let you take my hair out." Duo mumbled against his skin. "It'd going to be hell to brush out all the tangles."

"I'll help." He said a bit too quickly. Duo just chuckled and wrapped an arm tight around his waist. They stayed like that for a while with Wufei combing his fingers through long brown hair and with Duo lying pretty much all over his back.

Duo let out a small sigh and raised himself up on a elbow next to him. "I'm going to be blunt again. Okay?" He said as he looked down on his new lover.

The Asian man just smiled. "In my experiences, good things happen when you're being blunt. So feel free to do so at anytime."

Duo only mustered a shaky half smile. "I'm going to hold you to that." He took a deep breath. "Would you date me?"

Wufei could feel his face almost splitting with his wide grin. "Yeah."

The long haired man's smile wasn't far behind as he breathed out a long sigh in relief. "Good."

"Yeah, good." They laid in silence once again. Just enjoying each others presence

Wufei suddenly snickered. "I think you kind of took all this in the wrong order. I think that asking people out is usually done before sex."

Duo gave a one shouldered shrug. "It's just easier to ask people to sleep with you. It's not as much of an emotional gamble. If they say no they would just think they were turning down a one night stand. Nothing else. It's pretty much perfect."

Wufei didn't think it sounded perfect. Far from it actually and by the look of Duo's face it wasn't as perfect as he made it out to be.

"Why?" He didn't really know what he was asking. Just hoping that his lover would understand.

Duo wouldn't meet his eyes. Instead he looked down to where his fingers were playing with the dark hair on Wufei's arm. "It's just that... most people just want to have sex with me." He looked so sad that Wufei could feel his heart ache at the sight. "They don't really want to date me... not outside the bedroom anyway. They think my personality is a bit too... wild and that I'm too... clingy."

Wufei didn't know who 'they' were but he wanted to come after them with his butcher knifes. Ellen would probably help him hide the bodies and his ugly cat could help with the torture part, because they should suffer for making this bright beautiful man look so bleak.

"Well, I like it when you're clingy." He said. Duo smiled brightly and proceeded to wrapped himself all over his back again. Wufei laughed despite the new weight pressing down against his lungs. "And I don't think you're wild, only... spontaneous." A amused snort was heard from the blue eyed man whose head was once again resting on his shoulder blade. "And even though it's a really nice bedroom, I really don't want to stay in here all the time. So yes, I would like to date you outside the bedroom too."

Duo sighed happily and mumbled a content "Good." against his skin.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N

Oo I really don't know what happened here. Duo kind of took over and decided that he had waited long enough.

I didn't intend for the story to go this way at first but... woops! Pleeeeeeeease tell me what you thought about it and feel free to flame me. ((I read a author note that pointed out that flames were just a more painfull way for a author to get better, so yeah... feel free to flame me. I'm not going to like it (I will probably go hid under a blanket for a while) but it's all for a greater good.))

Next chapter will probably be posted tomorrow (It's the last one WTF! O.o)


	9. Chapter 9

This story takes place in a world without global heating which means that there is snow on the ground

Chapter 9

It was the first day of the winter holiday and the two lovers were making their way down the snow covered sidewalk. They hadn't seen each other that much lately with all the tests and assignments that had to be turned in before Christmas. But now it was finally time to spend some time together. Wufei had never longed and dreaded a holiday so much in his life. Longing to spend time with Duo and his grandmother but dreading to 'meet the parents' in just a few days. To make things worse he was not only going to meet the parents, he was going meet the whole Maxwell clan.

Wufei wasn't very good in a crowd. He wasn't any good among people at all. Especially not if there were many people that he didn't know that all knew each other. He knew himself well enough to know that he was most likely going to do his wallflower act all night. But then there was Duo. His beloved boyfriend who wanted him to get to know his family and be a part of the commotion that was a Maxwell Christmas. He had promised that he was going to try. --Try- being the key word. He had done a mental count as Duo had been talking and had ended up on the terrifying number of thirty eight family members.

There was Solo, his wife and their three children. Tres, his wife and their two children, Quadraginta, their parents, two uncles and their wifes, three aunts and their husbands and together they had five children who in turn had eight children. Not to mention one grandmother, one grandfather and one great grandmother. Duo hadn't been sure if all of them were going to be there at Christmas, but it was likely. Wufei could feel cold sweat making its way down his back just thinking about it.

His own grandmother didn't really like celebrating Christmas so he was taking Duo to meet her tomorrow without the Christmas hysteria. He had little hope that she wouldn't try to embarrass him. Last time he spoke to her on the phone she was sorting out all the baby pictures she could find. The combination of his grandmother being an enthusiastic photographer and Wufei's infamous 'naked period', then things could get ugly pretty fast.

Speaking of ugly. Wufei did a mental note to buy a lot of cat food later since the ugly cat was going to stay with his grandmother while they were gone. The ugly cat was in fact not 'ugly cat' any more, it was 'Precious.' Wufei had almost laughed his ass off when his lover had told him that Precious was the perfect name for the ugly cat... until he realized that his lover was serious.

Duo had developed a strange fascination with the cat ever since the first night he had spent at Wufei's apartment. The cat had for some reason launched itself at Duo's braid and refused to let go. They had been late for the lecture that morning as it had taken them almost an hour to untangle the furious cat from the long hair. Duo thought that the cat was jealous of him. Wufei just thought the cat was insane. But how ever it was, his lover had decided to start a crusade to win over the ugl-... 'Precious' affection. So far it wasn't working all that well and Duo had been forced to stuff the braid inside his shirt every time he entered the apartment.

Wufei groaned silently as the wind blew snow from the ground up in his face. He really needed to finish that scarf. Not to mention and a new par of gloves since he had once again lost his old ones. He had a way of doing that on a regular basis. He would take them off and leave them at the oddest places. On top of mailboxes, next to the cash register, on the ground when he had been tying his shoes, on a shelf in the food store and pretty much any plain area that he could find. Needless to say, he had to buy and knit a lot of new gloves every winter. The Chinese man stuffed his hands deep into his coat pockets and turned to his lover who was walking next to him.

"Adonis, have you seen my gloves anywhere?"

Duo blinked. "What? Who?"

Wufei eyes went wide and he laughed slightly in embarrassment when he realized what he had said. "Ehm. Sorry, its nothing."

But he really should have known better then to tell the most curious person he had ever meet that it was 'nothing.'

"Oh come on. I want to know. Tell me-tell me- tell me." The braided man pleaded.

One look at those big blue eyes and Wufei knew that he didn't stand a chance. He just could not deny them anything."... it's just. Well, I kind of had a bit of a crush on you ever since the first lecture. And since I didn't know your name I... kind of called you Adonis..."

"Really?"

"Em, yeah."

"That is so sweet." He leaned down and kissed his boyfriend on his cold cheek. "I just wish you would have talked to me."

Wufei shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I'm not really good at talking to people I don't know."

Duo laughed. "Yeah, well I'm not one to talk. I never would have been able to talk to you if I hadn't told Tom to invite you to the study group."

Wufei stared at his boyfriend. "Wait, you told him to invite me?"

Duo blushed slightly and sank his chin further into his muffler as if he was trying to hide.

"Em, yeah. I was kind of to shy to do it myself." He mumbled through the thick wool.

Wufei was silent for a few seconds while he tried to combine the words 'shy' and 'Duo' together in a comprehensible sentence… only to fail completely. He couldn't do it. There was just no way you could call someone who randomly blurred out 'Would you have sex with me?' shy. Not in his definition of the word anyway. So he gave up and focused on the question at hand. Because he really wanted to know -why the hell- Duo had invited him in the first place. "But why?"

Duo jumped over a big lump of snow lying in his path. "Why as in, 'Why was I too shy' or..."

"Why did you want me there."

"Well what was I supposed to do? I couldn't just walk up to you and ask you out. You were always sitting in the back like you didn't want to be bothered. I tried to ambush you once but you just walked past me before I had time to open my mouth." Wufei, who had no recognition of the incident made not comment. Duo continued. "If you were in our study group it would be like... more natural and I wouldn't have to make up a reason to talk to you." he said and pulled his beanie down further over his ears.

"I still don't understand why. You didn't know anything about me. I was just another guy sitting in your class. What reason could you possibly have for wanting to ask me out?"

Duo rolled his eyes with a snort. "Oh come on. Yeah, ha-ha very funny, let's make fun of Duo. Like one look at you wasn't enough." He laughed. "Not even you can pull of being that oblivious Wu. Stoop fishing for compliments."

Wufei could only stare at him in confusion. Duo took one look at him and stooped short with his eyes wide.

"Oh. My. God. You are. Aren't you."

"What?" Wufei said in bewilderment.

"You are that oblivious. How can you not know?" He asked in disbelief. Wufei had no idea what his boyfriend was talking about and said as much. "Ok, why would you want to date someone that you didn't know anything about?" Duo asked slowly like he was talking to a small child.

Wufei who didn't like to be patronized didn't answer. Duo seamed to sense this and changed tactic. "Ok, so why did you want to date me? You didn't know anything about me ether."

Wufei frowned. "That's different."

"How? How is that different?" He pressed.

"Well, you're beautiful." He said, letting the 'and I'm not' hang in the air, unsaid. Wufei could feel himself blushing and looked down on the ground.

He hadn't wanted to point out the obvious, but Duo hadn't really given him any choice. Everyday he found himself amazed that the gorgeous man even wanted to be seen with him not to mention date him. Wufei hated the way he looked. He always had. He was too short and his skin was too dark. His face was strangely shaped and his eyes where too thin and so dark that it looked like he just had one big pupil. Like a bug or something. He had grown his hair out to have something to hide them behind after being told that they made him look creepy. But as the hair grow long enough he used it to hide his entire face.

But that wasn't the only way he had tried to hide himself. Everything from hair color (he did not make a very good blond) to clothes (which was hard considering that when he was in his teens, his size could mostly be found in the children's department) to makeup (he had been the most uncomfortable goth to ever walk the planet). He had taken up swimming and even gone so far as to go to the gym (something that he had hated above all else, because nothing got you down as much as guys twice your size who lifted twice your weight...on one arm) to get rid of the scrawny and fragile look of his body. It hadn't really worked. It had only made him more self-conscious.

But damn, how he hated being 'that Chinese kid.' The worst part had been the questions about his mom. 'No, I'm not adopted', 'yes, she is my real mom.' They were even worse then all the 'rise' and 'Yu stin ki Pu' jokes that had followed him through the years. The only part of his body that he liked was his nose. His grandmother always told him that he had his mother's nose. But other then that he really wasn't much to look at. So yes, he knew very well that he couldn't hold a candle to most guys in the looks apartment and having to point this out to this godlike creature who he loved almost felt like shooting himself in the foot.

"Jesus, are you for real?" Duo said as he stared at him. "This is just too much. You are too much. Am I going to have to spell it out for you?" He snickered. "You know this reminds me about this joke me and my friends used to have about how our perfect guy would be like."

Wufei really didn't like where this was going. He did not feel like listening to what Duo considered to be quality's for a perfect boyfriend. Because the chance that he could ever live up to any of them was pretty slim. He had no illusions about his own qualities or should he say lack of them.

"Duo, could we just find some place to eat, please?" He begged and shifted from one foot to the other in the ankle deep snow.

But Duo ignored him and kept talking. "Come on, just listen would you. Right, so we had this joke from some TV-show where a girl was describing her dream boyfriend. It went something like 'he was going to be smart, but not too smart, nice, but not too nice and he was going to be handsome -but without knowing it-" Duo looked at him like he had just delivered a punch line. Wufei just stared.

"Did you have a point with this little tale?"

Duo blinked. "...Yeah because the whole thing is so naive, with a nice, smart handsome guy who -didn't know- that he was handsome. It shouldn't be possible. You see?"

No. Wufei did not see. In fact all he could see was that this, what ever -this- was, was taking time. Time they could spend on finding some place to eat and not talk about how he could never be a perfect boyfriend because there was no perfect boyfriend.

"Yeah ok. There is no such thing as a perfect boyfriend. Can we eat now? I haven't eaten anything since this morning and I'm starving." With that he started walking again. He could hear Duo's foot steeps catching up with him in the light snow.

Duo was quiet for a few seconds. "You're pretty nice. You know." He said in a soft voice.

Wufei blushed and mumbled a quick thanks.

"And smart."

'Oh god, are we still on the same subject?' The Chinese man thought with a sigh. 'Why are we talking about this? Right, it was about why he asked me out in the first place... and why he is dating me at all I guess. Not that he seems to have a good reason to present.' Wufei suddenly came to a terrifying realization. 'Shit I'm getting dumped aren't I?' He looked over at his boyfriend who in turn was looking at anything but him. 'Yeah I am... So this is how it feels like to get the "_It's me, not you. You're nice and everything but it's just not working for me_" speech. It fucking hurts. 'Damn. I thought everything was going well... but apparently not.' He looked back at Duo who seamed to be talking to him. Wufei hadn't heard a word over the loud roaring sound in his head. He wasn't so sure that he -wanted- to hear them. "Look." He said, cutting off Duo in what ever it was he was saying to soften the blow. "If this is your version of a 'dear john' could you just get it over with?"

Duo gapped at him and cried out a loud "NO!" making several people around them stop and stare. Wufei breathed out a sigh of relief. "Oh, okay... sorry."

Duo stepped a bit closer to him and lightly bumped his elbow into his arm. "You are such a guy. You really suck at picking up hints and reading between the lines you know."

Wufei shrugged in embarrassment.

Duo breathed out in a large cloud of steam. "... I'm sorry. I should have just said it straight out, but... I really thought you were making fun of me."

The Asian frowned. "What? Why?"

His boyfriend gave a short laugh. "It's just so ridiculous. How could you not know?"

Wufei was very quickly losing his patience. He was tired, he was hungry and this emotional roller coaster was giving him a headache. "Know what?!"

Duo sneaked his hand into Wufei's coat pocket and laced their fingers together. "That you're beautiful." This time it was Wufei's turn to stop and gap. "W-what?"

"You. Are. Beautiful." he said again with total sincerity in his voice. Wufei didn't know what to say. His first instinct was to frown and tell him that just because they were dating there was no reason to make up fake compliments. But Duo looked so sincere. Maybe... maybe he was beautiful in his eyes, love is blind and all that.

So he chose to believe him. "I'm glad you think so." He said with soft smile and tightened his fingers around Duo's.

But for some reason this did not satisfy his boyfriend. "You can't seriously have this low self-esteem!" He groaned loudly.

"I don't have low self-esteem." He said with a frown. Wufei really did not know what had gotten into his lover. He didn't have low self-esteem, he was just being realistic.

"Then why don't you believe me." The braided man looked ready to stump his foot in annoyance.

"I believe that you believe it." Duo groaned again at his answer and rubbed his forehead. Wufei decided that it was time to change the subject. "Could we just drop this and eat? Come on, there is an Italian restaurant over there. You like Italian, right?" Wufei knew that he did, so he did not wait for an answer before dragging his pained looking lover with him towards the restaurant.

Duo didn't say a word while they were taking off their coats. He was quiet while they sat down at an empty table and only nodded at the waiter that came with the menus. Instead he stared at Wufei who was starting to feel more and more uncomfortable.

"What?" He asked when he couldn't take it anymore.

"I hope you realize that I'm going to spend a long time making you believe me."

Wufei rolled his eyes with a smile. "Please do."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N

Well, that was it. The end...

Or actually, it isn't. I promised a epilogue in Duo's POW didn't I?

But here is the thing. I started writing... and kept writing. The epilogue got bigger and bigger, since Duo had so much that he wanted to say and I couldn't get him to stop.

Then SakuyasLittleBird suggested that I should turn it in to a sequal... hmm.

So here is the question, do _you_ want a really long epilogue or a sequal?

-And if it isn't too much to ask for, could you, yes YOU please tell me what you thought about all this. Pleeeeese? puppy eyes

In the epilogue/sequal Duo takes Wufei along with him to meet his family... yes that would be the family with thirty eight members... poor Wufei.

Thanks to everyone that reviewed!

DNA deoxyribonuclcacid-... man I hope I got the name right. – You are just going to have to wait and see -grin-

Shogi – I'll tell you a secret. We'll see more of protectiv!Wufei later on.

Snowdragonct – Yeah, no dancing around their attraction with a blunt Duo around 

Kaeru Shisho – I think Duo better treat him right or their will be hell to pay.

Hittocerebattasai – I live to surprice!... and confuse, but that's another story.

Spider-Jen. –grin- thank you! By the way, I love you name.


	10. Chapter 10

No, this is not the epilogue because the sequel won the voting. (But I did put a little something in the end of this note, just for fun. -dedicated to Sylenctone who wanted more of 'Wufei's naked phase')

I just wanted to tell everyone that put this story on notification that the first chapter of the sequel has been posted. It's called "My dark eyed wallflower" and it is as promised in Duo's POW.

Oh! And I forgot to thank SakuyasLittleBird who came up with ugly cats new name :)

A HUGE thanks to everyone that reviewed. You people are wonderful and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

lil debbie - Thank you, I will :)

Alzilur - That there will be more is something I can promise. Don't worry ;) I'm too obsessed with this paring to stop in the near future.

Shogi - Sorry, but I'm not going to write the whole story again hiding behind sofa. I tried to imagine writing the entire story again when you asked for it but I can't do it for two reasons. 1- I'm lazy. 2- It would reveal things that shouldn't come up until later. Duo will look back on some of the things that happened, maybe that will work? I hope so, I hate to disappoint but I hope you will like the sequel anyway :)

Turtle kid - LOL yeah, the original Wufei would have taken out his sword the second anyone had called him beautiful. I guess this is how I imagine Wufei would be like if he grew up bullied and without the whole "dragon clan" thing on his back. Damn, now you made my brain start running away from me. Poor Wufei, more childhood stories on the way I do believe :)

Hittocerebattosai - Damn, I can never remember how to spell your name and I keep doing it wrong. I suck, I know, lol (btw, does the name mean anything?). Well anyway, thanks for the review. Hopefully you will find the sequel just as entertaining :)

Sylenctone - Thank you :) I made a little something in the end of this page for you, I hope you'll like it.

Tanya. G - I'm glad you liked Wufei. I just hope you'll like Duo too.

Snaowdragonct - I agree with you, angst is all good and well but sometimes you just need something simple and sweet.

Kaeru Shisho - I actually haven't decided what color Wufei's scarf is in. I'm going to let you decide. So you tell me, what color is Wufei's knitting?

AmberEyes87 - And a sequel you shall have my dear :)

Also a huge thank you the anonymous person who pointed out that something had gone wrong when I first posted this.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

(A little something just for fun)

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Wufei sunk down further into the couch.

"And this was taken during a camping trip when he was four. We couldn't get him to wear clothes even when the mosquitoes were eating him alive."

Wufei hugged the couch pillow in his arms closer and hid his face with a silent groan.

"What's that on his head?" Duo asked curiously.

"Oh that's my bra. I think he was pretending to be an alien." His grandmother replied.

His boyfriend laughed. "So the only place he wore underwear was on his head?"

Wufei wondered if he could suffocate himself with the pillow.

"Sometimes, yes. Wait, there should be more pictures of that. There is one where he has his trunks on his head when we were on the beach one time and one with his underwear down all the way over his eyes while wearing my high heels. I think it's in one of the albums in the other room. I'm going to see if I find it. Do you want some more tea dear?"

"I'm good, thank you Mrs. Gilmore."

There was a moment of blissful silence before the edge of the pillow was pried away from his face. Duo looked at him with a grin. "Are you alive in there?"

"No."

"I can't believe how cute you were when you were a kid. I mean just look at this." His lover held up a photo of a five year old Wufei sitting on the floor surrounded by wrapping paper. He was hugging a fluffy white unicorn to his chest with a big happy grin as he looked up at who ever was taking the photo.

Wufei sighed. "At least I'm dressed."

Duo pulled at the edge of his sweater. "Yeah, what's up with that? Where did that fantastic habit go?"

"Probably the same place my fascination with frogs and my love of sip cups went."

Duo bumped him with his elbow. "Maybe we can start it up again? I wouldn't mind having you walk around in the nude at home."

Wufei thought for a second. "It's too cold during the winter, but maybe in the summer, if you wear your hair out..." He trailed off with a smile.

Duo grinned wickedly. "Deal."

"I found it." His grandmother said happily as she came back with her arms full of photo albums. Walking over to the couch were the both men were sitting she dumped the stack in Duo's lap.

"The beach photo is in first album. If you look trough the second album, the green one - you will find the photos where he's wearing the high heels. The third, the fourth, the fifth and the sixth is from when he was a teenager."

Wufei groaned and hid behind the pillow again.

There was a sound of shuffling albums. "Hey, Wu. I didn't know you used to be a goth."

Wufei whimpered.


End file.
